Sunday, June 22, 2008

A Southern California bank is trying to determine if tarnished Silicon Valley financier William "Boots" Del Biaggio III was obtaining loans under false pretenses as far back as 2004, according to new court filings.

Separately, the bank said that Del Biaggio and retired hockey great Luc Robitaille are in default on a $2 million loan they took out together in 2006. Robitaille is not accused of wrongdoing.

The story also gets into the connection between Boots, Robitaille and AEG, the ownership group of the Los Angeles Kings headed by billionaire Philip Anschutz.

Boots owes AEG $7-million related to the Predators purchase, which the Kings group financed apparently as part of a bid to put an NHL franchise in Kansas City. AEG is now suing Del Biaggio.

Where's the relationship begin?

Del Biaggio, a longtime hockey fan and investor, told the Kansas City Star in 2006 that he met Robitaille when Del Biaggio owned a minority stake in the San Jose Sharks. The newspaper said Robitaille introduced Del Biaggio to executives with AEG, a sports and entertainment conglomerate that owns the Los Angeles Kings.

Robitaille has a sterling reputation in NHL circles, but he certainly picked poorly in choosing a business associate. I don't see any of this coming back on him, other than perhaps impacting his wallet, but his relationship does shed light on how Boots became involved in the AEG/Kansas City/Nashville fiasco..

I'm a little surprised that CNBC hasn't picked up on this story here in the States, given the aspect of Boots allegedly having an accomplice within a brokerage firm providing falsified statements. Setting aside the hockey aspect, it's an interesting business/crime story given Del Biaggio's family history and status in the San Jose area, and his subsequent fall from grace.

I'm a little surprised that CNBC hasn't picked up on this story here in the States, given the aspect of Boots allegedly having an accomplice within a brokerage firm providing falsified statements.

It reflects poorly on a few investment companies. Pointing that out would interfere with CNBC's "All Cheerleading, All the Time" approach to financial news. They're worthless. One of the funniest moments in Iron Man was watching Jim Cramer screaming to sell shares in Stark Industries. That's one of the best Buy indicators in the industry.

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About Me

A sportswriter at The Globe and Mail, James covers the NHL and the game of hockey. He is a member of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association, a radio and TV analyst with TSN and was the NHL network manager at SB Nation from 2008 to 2010. A graduate of Thompson Rivers and Ryerson universities, James grew up in Kamloops, B.C. — one of Canada's great hockey cities — and was a season ticket holder in the Blazers' glory years.

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